


The Mountie and the Skogsrå

by Luzula



Category: due South
Genre: Community: ds_flashfiction, F/M, Filk, Podfic Available, fairy tale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-08
Updated: 2011-02-08
Packaged: 2017-10-15 12:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/160738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luzula/pseuds/Luzula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fraser and Victoria's story, retold as a traditional folk ballad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mountie and the Skogsrå

**Author's Note:**

> The Fraser/Victoria story seemed very suited to the folk ballad format, but I had a hard time finding an appropriate ballad at first. Among the Scandinavian folk ballads, there are many ballads on the theme of a supernatural female creature (for example a fairy, a troll or a sea creature) courting a human man (by means of spells, gifts, persuasion, or threats). It usually ends badly. This theme doesn't seem nearly as common in English ballads. Among the Child ballads, there's _Allison Gross_ , which has a witch courting a man, but the emphasis is on the ugliness of the witch, and there's also _Tam Lin_ , but that story has other themes as well. So I went with the Swedish medieval ballad _Herr Olof och Havsfrun_. Obviously it's hard to capture the style of a Scandinavian ballad in English--for example, there are set phrases that don't translate well. But the meter should be the same (with rhymes and some alliteration), and I also tried to capture the formal back-and-forth style of conversation. The "skogsrå" of the title is a female supernatural creature which looks like a beautiful woman, but is treacherous and has a hollow back (thus the line "Her back was hollow, her heart was black").
> 
> Also, you can download a recording of me singing the ballad [here](http://audiofic.jinjurly.com/mountie-and-skogsr%C3%A5-filk). I'm quite fond of the melody--it has an A part in a minor key and a B part in a major key. It's a dancing tune called a "schottis". If you're curious about the original lyrics, there's a version [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OFm22XxWtY) where someone has helpfully subtitled it in English.
> 
> I'd like to thank [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/exeterlinden/profile)[**exeterlinden**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/exeterlinden/) and [](http://2corbies.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**2corbies**](http://2corbies.dreamwidth.org/) for helpful betas!

A cold wind blew on a winter's night  
The moon shone down on a woman's flight  
A man came searching on her track  
To find her and bring her back

She climbed through the hills and climbed through the snow  
And ever more cold did the storm winds blow  
He caught her at last and he kept her warm  
As they lay in each other's arms

They lay for a night and a day and a night  
Came out in the day when the sun shone bright  
He said, "You must face what you have done,  
You can no longer run."

"I would give you my heart, I would give you my hand,  
And all of the riches that you could demand  
If you will save me from lock and key  
And leave me to wander free."

"I cannot claim your heart nor hand  
And neither can I your riches demand  
For I must follow my duty's call  
No matter what else may befall."

For ten years' time she dwelled in the dark  
And she cursed his name both wide and far  
For he had left her lost and betrayed  
But she would be free one day

When ten years' time had passed and gone  
She left the dungeon, pale and wan  
She sought for him in the north and the south  
'Til she had found him out

Despite the hooks she had left in his soul  
He thought his life was beyond her control  
With a loyal friend and a wolf by his side  
And the work in which he took pride

Then he saw her standing amid the crowd  
A ghost from his past, so fair and proud  
He thought a dream had come in the day  
When he saw her face again

Her skin was fair and her lips were red  
Her voice was full of things unsaid  
Her hair was black like the darkest coal  
He loved her, heart and soul

She said, "When both our lives allow  
Will you not love me better now?  
When I am free from the dark at last  
Will you forget the past?"

"The past we never can undo  
But I would make a life with you  
I gladly would love you in every way  
If you would only stay."

But her back was hollow, her heart was black  
And false was her face as she smiled back  
Deep in the dark she had spun her spell  
And now she had cast it well

"Now where is your duty and where is your friend,  
And how shall you your good name defend?  
Where is your wolf and what is your fate  
When love is mixed with hate?"

"My friend is gone, my wolf is hurt  
And my good name you have dragged in the dirt  
You have done by me as I have done by you  
Will you damn me to darkness, too?"

"I will have you for my own  
Or you can go to hell alone  
When nothing is left of all you hold dear  
What can keep you here?"

"Why do you take my love by force  
When you know my heart is already yours?  
But though you bind me to your will  
My duty holds me still."

But when she cried "Come!" he could not stay  
She held his whole life in her sway  
He came running to reach for her hand  
And at her side to stand

His friend had seen him in his fall  
When he could not resist her call  
And thought to stop her as she flew  
But the bullet went askew

His flight was halted by iron cold  
Her spell was broken, it could not hold  
He faltered and fell and lost his breath  
And lay as if in death

She left without him, on her own  
And no one knows where she is flown  
He lives still, with the iron mark  
That kept him from the dark


End file.
